I think we'll organise a proper championship next year - it'd add to the fun and would also help all the cartie races (plus any others that might start up) by expanding the pool of teams, expertise, experience and equipment._________________You don't stop playing when you grow old. You grow old when you stop playing.

OK - things seem to be taking off a little. The organisers of the Belchford Downhill and G-Team Gravity Racing have been in touch to see if we are interested in getting involved with them and a couple of other cartie races in a national series.

The idea is to create a harmonised set of rules for a new "National Championship" class of cartie. We would then include a class for vehicles complying with these rules in the Cartie Challenge.

Competitors in the National class would have the opportunity to run their carts without modification at a series of events, and each event running a class for such carts would attract more interest and more entries as a result. Competitors running in the National class would score points at each event (based on aggregate time - our "constructors trophy" - to count towards an annual National Champion prize or trophy.

What this boils down to for us is a rather more detailed set of construction rules on top of what we have at present. This doesn't necessarily affect what we do already as the proposed rules are already compatible with ours in that any cartie that meets the National standard will pass our existing construction rules (although the opposite will not necessarily be the case).

Brakes to hold 50Kg (same as at Catterline), and must have at least two independently operated brakes.

Roll bars over driver's head and drivers hands
4 point seatbelt

So - what do you all think? Is this a direction you'd like to go? I think the priority is to preserve the character and feel of the Cartie Challenge, but I think it ought to be possible to do that and incorporate a national class competition at the same time. I think its a great idea in principle, but I can see a few problems, not least of which is that the requirements are quite a big hurdle. They're a big step up from what we've got at the moment, and I can't think of any machines around here that would make the standard. Of course, that doesn't really matter, as we can still run the Cartie Challenge exactly the same way, but have a "national class" competition as well if anyone wants to enter it.

Would any of you be interested in building and running a "national class" cartie, and perhaps competing in other national events? How would you feel about having maybe half a dozen "works teams", such as Honda and Vauxhall, taking part alongside us at Catterline?_________________You don't stop playing when you grow old. You grow old when you stop playing.

As you'll have read on the front page, the Catterline Cartie Challenge is one ot the 14 events on the provisional calendar of National Soapbox Championship events. Some of us (Duncan, Bernie and me) have been talking about buildng a National class cartie, but none of us can commit to travelling to any of the other National events.

If we build a National Class cartie, would anyone like to take it down to one or more of the other National events?_________________You don't stop playing when you grow old. You grow old when you stop playing.